3/8 BBB on G40 HT Gypsy?

[Clipper4730]

Hey folks, facing a dilemma here. Replacing the chain on our 50’ sailboat. We have been running 3/8 bbb chain that came with the boat with no major problems with skipping or jamming. The windlass is a Maxwell 2200 HWC with dual Gypsies. We decided to go with 5/16 G40 HT as our replacement. Thinking we needed to change Gypsies to accommodate the new chain we were surprised when we looked up the Gypsy size we had and according to Maxwell the Gypsy we have is for G40 HT chain. Question can the 3/8 bbb and G40 HT run on the same Gypsy. The link size is not significantly different the 3/8 bbb being a tad larger.
Anyway thanks in advance for any advice.

Will

[rslifkin]

Some windlasses use the same gypsy for multiple chain types or sizes that are close in link length. How much variation they'll accept depends on the gypsy design. Maxwell has a pretty good chart that shows which chain types fit on each gypsy, so it's worth a look.

[Bill O]

Even though they look fairly close in size, it usually doesn't work out well when you put a load on them.

Would call Maxwell or look at on line info. If they carry the different wildcats for both sizes, most likely it will not work correctly.

[hycslim]

Hi

We replaced our old windlass a couple of years ago with a Maxwell HRC 1010 windlass. One of the deciding reason for choosing Maxwell was that their gypsies work with Proof coil, BBB or G40 chain. However they are size specific so I doubt you could go from 3/8 to 5/16 without changing the gypsy.

Allan

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by hycslim

Hi

We replaced our old windlass a couple of years ago with a Maxwell HRC 1010 windlass. One of the deciding reason for choosing Maxwell was that their gypsies work with Proof coil, BBB or G40 chain. However they are size specific so I doubt you could go from 3/8 to 5/16 without changing the gypsy.

Allan

The only exception I remember from when I bought my HRC10-8 is that 5/16" G70 goes on the 3/8 gypsy, as the G70 links are longer.

[hycslim]

Hi

Maxwell says on their website that their "new" design gypsy allows for different types of chain on the HRC models. I don't know when their "new design came into effect but when I ordered my windlass the HRC 10-8 was for 5/16 and the HRC 10-10 was for 3/8 chain. I called their tech support before purchasing and received great info from them.

Good Luck

Allan

[skipmac]

Coincidentally I just helped my son in law sort out new chain for the identical windlass. And I used the same chains you mention in the gypsy on my sailbot.

When researching new chain for my boat, after a few hours of research, including calls to chain companies and emails to SL engineer in Scotland I learned that the most critical spec for chain to work in a windlass is the number of links per foot OR the inside length of each link which determines the number of links per foot.

3/8" BBB and 5/16 G4 are almost identical in this spec and should work interchangeably in your windlass. In fact just to check I took samples of both and laid them in son in law's windlass and both fit snugly in the gypsy.

On my boat I had planned to replace the old 3/8" BBB with 5/16 G4 but got a super deal on new 3/8 so stuck that. However the spare anchor with rope rode has 25' of 5/16 G4 that works perfectly as well as the 3/8 BBB in my Simpson Lawrence.

[rslifkin]

Originally Posted by hycslim

Hi

Maxwell says on their website that their "new" design gypsy allows for different types of chain on the HRC models. I don't know when their "new design came into effect but when I ordered my windlass the HRC 10-8 was for 5/16 and the HRC 10-10 was for 3/8 chain. I called their tech support before purchasing and received great info from them.

Good Luck

Allan

That's still the case. But they publish a detailed chain type vs gypsy chart that shows which chain types fit each gypsy and that sometimes shows some quirks not expected from the basic size description for the gypsy. I remember the 3/8 gypsy on the HRC10-10 showing it fits a lot more chain types than the 5/16 gypsy on my HRC10-8 (which works perfectly with 5/16 G43).

[skipmac]

By the way, 3/8" G4 will NOT work in the same gypsy as 3/8 BBB. Links in G4 are longer than the links of the same size BBB which is why the 5/16 G4 will interchange with the 3/8 BBB.